"I keep my twisted grill, just to show them kids it's real. We ain't picture perfect but we worth the picture still." - "Crooked Smile" x J. Cole
Some may think that gaps between your teeth is a flaw, but over here, we believe it's a unique trait that should be celebrated. This quirky aesthetic makes for a smile full of charisma and persona. The French are actually ahead of the game because they dubbed beauties with gapped teeth les dents du bonheur, meaning "lucky teeth."
We had the chance to kiki with some women who embrace their gorgeous grins no matter who's looking and we can't stop smiling from ear to ear. Check out their journey to embracing the smiles they were born with by clicking through the gallery below.
1.Pamela Holmes
The definition of "embrace" is having a knowledge of the good, bad, and the ugly, then accepting every aspect that comes with it. That's what it took for me to embrace my smile.
I had to be faced with the ugly and the bad to humbly embrace the good. It's no secret that I have a gap and overbite. I mean it's not like I haven't tried to fix my teeth. I had to wear braces throughout my entire high school career. So being called "brace-face," "track-mouth," and even "mush-mouth" and still no perfect teeth, it was a sign that I should maybe keep it. So instead of trying to get rid of it, I embraced it.
I started showing my gap more during a photo shoot and sooner than later it became a trademark. Now it's one of the reasons I get booked as a model. So if it's any advice I could give to anyone who's struggling with a feature that may not fit "society's norm," remember society's norm does not have to be a norm for you.
Do not be shaped by society and its perception of beauty. Set your own beauty marks in this world, and let the world be forced to embrace it.
2.Woodeleine Beaujour
For years, I hated my smile, I even wanted to get braces.
Now that I am older, I realized I am actually grateful for my teeth, I am grateful for my smile, I wouldn't change it for anything.
My smile is very unique and it is part of who I am as a person.
I have come to the point in my life where I am able to accept each and every part of my body. Nonetheless, I have also come to understand that people are always going to share their opinions about my looks. People say things without realizing the effect that it may cause for others.
I embrace my smile by smiling more and staying positive because that is who I am.
3.Alexis Maria
I used to have an issue with my smile. I hated my gap. No one necessarily made fun of me because of it, but I wanted my teeth to be straight like everyone else's. But that was the problem, I wanted to look like other people.
I never noticed that my gap is what sets me apart from the collective.
I would see celebrities come into the industry with their unique smiles, then change them as soon as they've made it big. Just made me think I had a flaw that wasn't acceptable. Me embracing my smile was a long journey because we are all made the way the Universe intended. Everyone, everything is beautiful.
When you actually come to terms with that, something silly like gapped teeth won't bother you. I love my gap because it's a part of me and I love myself, so that's how it should be.
4.Special Reynolds
It took me a while to love my smile.
As a child, I was teased about having a gap and I remembered I had two yellow stains on my front teeth. Then, when I got older, I took charge of my dental care and realized that I had an amazing smile. People say gapped teeth are ugly but I think they are beautiful and even sexy. Also, gapped teeth are hereditary, so it connects me to my Mom's side of the family where I get it from.
So I embrace my smile by smiling super big, taking close-up selfies, and denying dental offers for braces and veneers. My teeth are perfect just the way they are.
5.Thokozile Tshabalala
Honestly, I never used to smile.
I was never confident about my smile because I hated how my teeth looked.
I remember entering a modeling contest and I didn't make it to the finals because I never smiled. One day, someone told me that I had a beautiful gap and in my head, I thought they were teasing me until someone said the same thing and I started believing it a little. I started Googling girls with gaps and they looked pretty. Long story short, I got confidence from them and I started embracing the front gap and I'm starting to smile more.
6.Natalie Blake
When I was younger, I never really understood how my smile was unique.
I just remember that I was one of the few people with the space between my teeth. I got made fun of a little bit but somehow I embraced the attention. As I got a little older, I started getting a different kind of attention from people in a positive way and it made me realize that I don't need braces or need to be like everyone else. I just learned to rock my gap tooth with my style.
When you have the confidence about something and you don't need verification from anyone else, people accept what you already accepted.
That's how I feel about my smile it's unique because I embrace it.
7.Jessica Johnson
I'm a gap-toothed, deep-dimpled, loud-mouthed, silly woman.
Smiling is contagious. Plus, if I don't smile, I look like Ice Cube. So, I smile because life's too short to be unhappy.
8.LoriElle Anderson
The light that is within me illuminates through my smile. My smile is ignited when I think of the love I have for myself that allows me to share love with others.
I embrace my smile by recognizing that it was uniquely formed, just as my being.
I am able to embrace my smile because it is nonconforming and untraditional, just like the life I lead. My smile embodies versatility and holds value. It is a beautiful thing to be able to embrace such a standout smile in such a traditional and stereotypical society. I embrace my smile to encourage other young women to be proud of their natural features and shine bright like their pearly whites!
What's one thing that you love about your smile?
RELATED
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
It is no coincidence that this year, as SheaMoisture embraces the message “Yes, And,” they stand beside us as partners in celebrating this class of It Girls. Because that phrase, those two simple words, capture the very essence of this moment.
Yes, we are tired. And we are still rising.
Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
So without further ado, we celebrate the It Girl 100 Class of 2025–2026.
We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
Because we are still IT, girl.
Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff